RacingThePlanet: Ecuador 2015 Blogs

Hill Training

23-Feb-2015 12:08:30 PM [(GMT+12:00) Auckland, Wellington]

Sticking with the theme of ups and downs, our training schedule took us once again to the South Island mountains. Last weekend we ran the Shotover Moonlight Mountain Marathon – a gruelling 42km over some of the steepest terrain I’ve ever run (and for those of you thinking “what goes up must come down” I’m not exaggerating when I say the downhills were as punishing if not more punishing than the uphills.) The assault on the legs was relentless and as spectacular as the landscape was, there was no masking the agony inflicted by the course! For the record, I’m a plodder – no speed records are broken when I step out into the field and run – however I am persistent and I usually come somewhere in the middle of the field (more or less). Saturday’s run took me 8hrs33m to crawl to the finish line versus my average marathon time of around 3hrs50m! As my team mate Kim so rightly pointed out,never underestimate the power of teamwork – without Charlie and Kim cajoling me along the outcome might have been very different and I know I've said it before, but I’m looking forward to the comradeship and team support which we’ll undoubtedly benefit from, when we finally get to step out on those Ecuadorian trails. Only 153 days to go!

3 COMMENTS

kajana Shah

Megan Stewart

Posted: 14-Jul-2015 08:59:00 PM

hi guys......saw two of you on tv this morning...sooo jealous!!!. I completed my 4 deserts last year in Antarctica, so amazing. Regarding your charity one of my mates Belinda completed the gobi with the two Afghan women, so emotional and meaningful.Wishing you all well, agree with you regarding the fun part - even when my arse felt busted i still had a massive smile on my face!! Be sure to give the race officials a big hug for me - especially checkpoint captain Tony!!. If you have any questions regarding the race feel free to give me a yell, cheers Megan

Zeana H

Posted: 23-Feb-2015 09:37:18 AM

Hi Tim, Great work on the training race! Sounds like a brutal course that you took in stride. Having a team makes all the difference. I am not sure if I would consider a middle of the packer running a 3:50 marathon time, that's speedy!! Happy running - up and down hills!